Part 17 (1/2)
”Come, come,” said the professor, giving his wife a significant, warning glance. ”There is no need for disagreement. The young ladies are quite welcome to search the car.”
”We've already looked,” Penny admitted. ”The camera isn't there.”
”Isn't it possible you were mistaken in the automobile?”
”I may have jotted down a wrong license number,” Penny acknowledged reluctantly. ”I'm sorry.”
She turned to leave.
”That's quite all right,” the professor a.s.sured her, his tone now becoming more friendly. ”Do you girls live near here?”
”In Riverview,” Louise supplied eagerly. ”We drove over for a picnic.
Mrs. Leonard told us about your light ray machine!”
”Indeed.” Professor Bettenridge looked none too pleased.
”She said you might be willing to show it to us.”
”Mrs. Leonard displays a remarkable interest in our affairs,” Mrs.
Bettenridge commented sarcastically.
Again her husband shot her a warning glance.
”My dear, it is only natural that she should be interested in such an amazing machine as ours,” he said. ”I see no reason why the young ladies should not view it.”
”Oh, may we?” Louise cried eagerly.
Although his wife scowled with displeasure, the professor bade the girls follow him to the nearby shack. The door was padlocked and he opened it with a key.
Inside, the room was bare of furniture. There were a few boxes and a large table upon which rested a sizeable object covered with canvas.
”My secret ray machine is expected to revolutionize warfare,” the professor said proudly. ”Behold the product of fifteen years of faithful work!”
Dramatically he jerked aside the canvas cover, revealing a complicated mechanism of convex and concave mirrors which rotated on their bases. In the center of the machine was a small crystal ball.
”How does it operate?” Louise asked, deeply impressed.
”I am afraid a technical explanation would be too involved for you to understand. Briefly, a musical note produced on the crystal globe, is carried by ultra violet ray to the scene of the mine. The vibration will cause any unstable substance such as melinite to explode.”
”And you claim you actually can explode mines with this machine?” Penny asked.
”I not only claim it, I have demonstrated the machine's powers,”
Professor Bettenridge replied. ”How I do it, of course, is my own secret.”
”Will you explode a mine for us now?” Louise questioned eagerly.
Professor Bettenridge looked mildly amused. ”My dear young lady,” he said. ”Do you realize that mines are very expensive? I have been able to obtain only a few, and naturally I must save them for official tests.”
”Of course,” stammered Louise. ”I hadn't thought of that.”